--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > Mark, in his usual funny way, nails the same issue > I noticed when "catching up" with a few weeks of > FFL. One of the phrases that struck me while doing > this was, "Fairfield Life seems to be the kind of > place where people come to talk about the spiritual > experiences of others when they're not having any > of their own."
Strange, as I recall that was someone suggesting what Barry's comment would be in some discussion that took place while he was away (it's not an exact quote, it seems; the Search feature won't find it). > So many people are searching for something *flashy*, > something extraordinary that will shake them out > of the boredom of their lives. Crop circles, "true" > levitation, golden glowing visions of Brahman > dancing a jig, saviors showing up and speaking > all the languages of Earth at once as they tell > us what to do and how to do it. > > In other words, childish fantasies along the lines > of waiting with 'bated breath for the next Star Wars > movies so that the special effects can take us out > of ourselves for a couple of hours, and we don't > have to remember that most of the other hours have > been pretty boring, because *we* have grown boring, > because *we* have grown bored. Actually, crop circles don't belong on that list, since they're extraordinary even if they're made by human beans in a perfectly mundane fashion-- just like the Picasso film Barry thought was so terrific, or the similar Japanese clips, or the puppet shows Lawson posted a video of. > I'd suspect that the great revelation Mark is talk- > ing about will be far more individual, and far more > Zen. It'll consist of people finally noticing the > wonder of breathing in and breathing out, and of > the sound of the wind in the trees, and the way light > dances on the surface of water as they walk along a > river. It'll involve an appreciation of the sound of > children's laughter and our own laughter, not some > big booming Maitreya-voice from the sky telling us > more stuff to convince us that we "know" things. > > Face it -- the more you think you know, the less > you actually do. And the more convinced you are that > you've got a handle on "Truth," the more bored you > become *because* you think you've got things all > scoped out. Zen -- an openness to the wonder of the > everyday -- seems to me to be the way to go, clinging > to nothing, open to everything as a source of wonder, > not just the "special effects" of life. You mean, like the levitation you claim to have witnessed that you said was such a valuable experience? "...It *definitely* had its intended effect of blowing your mind and forcing you to drop all the conditioning you'd grown up with about what is and is not possible." Or have you changed your mind and no longer think it was of any value compared to the wonder of breathing in and breathing out? To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
